The present invention is concerned with a novel juggling club and, more particularly, a juggling club having a center of gravity more advantageiously disposed than centers of gravity of prior art juggling apparatus. In the prior art, the center of gravity is typically located well beyond the physical center of the club, i.e., in the neighborhood of 70% of the distance from the club handle to the opposite end of the club. The prior art design typically involves the use of a solid wood knob and handle which are secured into a hollow wooden center body. Given the considerable size and weight of the center body in the prior art design, the unavoidable result is a center of gravity located well past the longitudinal center of the club.
Other prior art approaches involve the use of a hollow unitary plastic body having a uniform wall thickness.
These prior art designs also suffer from certain inherent physical and, thusly, aerodynamic instability due primarily to the fact of the considerable displacement of the center of gravity from the center of the longitudinal axis of the club. Such instability manifests itself in many ways, these including difficulty in control of the club by jugglers, wobbling of the club during rotation, and excessive and unnecessary speed of rotation of the club. Further, the undesirable location of the center of gravity in prior art clubs creates a much greater velocity of rotation at the knob end of the club than at the flared end of the club. This, of course, increases the difficulty of controlling and catching clubs of prior art design.
An additional shortcoming of prior clubs is that the use of wood as a material causes the overall weight of the club to be greater than necessary for most juggling needs. This enhanced weight is yet another factor which has made life more difficult for the juggling community.
The prior art with reference to juggling clubs has for the most part been placed in U.S. Class 272, Subclass 124, with some art having been placed in U.S. Class 273, Subclass 96R.